2023 Mitsubishi Mirage

Small, inexpensive cars are a vanishing breed in these days of crossover mania and $48,000 average car prices, but there’s still one truly old-school economy car on the market: the 2023 Mitsubishi Mirage. The manual-transmission Nissan Versa has swiped the Mirage’s status as America’s least expensive new car, but the Mitsubishi is still the cheapest with an automatic transmission, just $17,450 including destination and sometimes less if you shop around. The low costs continue after purchase with 39-mpg economy and a long warranty, but living with the miserly Mirage means compromises.

It makes little or no pretense of fun, style or speed, but the Mirage is refreshingly honest about its ultra-low-cost transportation mission. It’s the lightest, least powerful and, in hatchback form, smallest car in you can buy in America. It’s also one of the oldest designs still on sale. Created for international markets and built in Thailand since 2011, it’s been on sale in the U.S. since 2014 with only modest changes. 2021 saw updated styling and a couple of added active-safety features while 2023 marks the deletion of the formerly optional five-speed manual transmission.

While the Mirage is unapologetically small and basic, it’s surprisingly roomy and not awful to drive. Its competition is changing, however, as small cars fade in favor of crossovers. The Versa and the Kia Rio are the only two proper entry-level small cars left in 2023, but the sedan-only Versa is much larger overall, 7.5 inches longer than the Mirage G4 sedan and nearly the size of a Honda Civic hatchback. Tiny budget crossovers like the Hyundai Venue and Nissan Kicks are also alternatives. All are faster, larger and more refined, but they also cost a bit more.

Under the hood is a gruff, rather noisy 78-horsepower three-cylinder engine and all Mirages now use a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT). The car’s power-to-weight ratio is essentially the same as the original 1979 Mirage (famous here as the Dodge Colt) and zero-to-60 takes about 11 seconds, okay then but slow today. The skinny tires don’t encourage pushing the car’s limits, but the Mirage’s light weight and responsive steering go some way towards making up for its lack of poke and the CVT isn’t any worse than the ones in most competitors.

While the Mirage’s tinny, lightweight doors and acres of dull, hard plastic interior bits feel like a timewarp to much older small cars, all this weight saving delivers unbeatable mpg for a non-hybrid. In my testing, I saw 42 mpg in combined driving and, importantly, even the cheapest hybrids and EVs cost thousands of dollars more. For such a small car, there’s also more backseat space than most competitors and in the Mirage hatchback, more cargo room too. It’s noisy inside, with obvious engine and road vibrations, but it’s not uncomfortable for such a small vehicle.

Like the rest of the car, the Mirage’s infotainment and safety offerings are minimal. Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and forward automatic emergency braking are standard, but the competition now offers much more in these areas. Mitsubishi also offers the same long warranty coverages as Kia, and it’s worth noting that the Mirage has a good reliability record, but if there’s one word that keeps coming up here, it’s “basic.” The Mirage is a frugal friend but that’s all it is, and you have to be okay with that to be happy with it.

Performance: 6/15

If you’re looking for adaptive suspensions, cross-drilled brakes and twin turbos you’re in the wrong place. The Mirage is all about transportation efficiency, not speed. While thrashing a small, slow car as fast as possible can be more fun than slogging around in L.A. traffic in a Lotus Esprit, that’s not what most Mirage buyers are after. However, while it’s slow and unrefined, the Mirage is actually not a terrible car to drive thanks to one Lotus-like attribute: lightness.

Every Mirage uses a 1.2-liter inline three-cylinder engine making 78 horsepower and 74 pound-feet of torque driving the front wheels through a CVT. This is the least powerful car you can buy in the U.S. but also one of the lightest. Sans a driver, the Mirage hatchback weighs only 2,095 pounds (250 pounds less than a Mazda Miata) and the G4 only 2,172. 

Even with so little weight, it’s slow by modern standards. Zero-to-60 takes around 11 seconds and passing on two-lane roads is best avoided. The CVT doesn’t feel like it’s struggling though, and once it’s up to speed it will happily cruise at 80 mph. But not quietly. There’s plenty of engine noise and even some vibration right from idle. Three-cylinder engines aren’t all like this (the Chevy Trailblazer’s isn’t), but this one is an older design.

The skinny tires transmit plenty of noise and don’t really encourage back-road hooliganism, but the steering is light and the car is quite responsive to driver inputs. With wider wheels and nicer tires, its handling might be really fun, but those don’t come standard. The brakes feel good and don’t fade too badly after a few really hard stops. The ultra-short wheelbase and those tires mean you feel potholes and road imperfections, but the ride isn’t crashy or unduly harsh.

The Versa, Rio and Venue aren’t exactly hot rods either and all weigh more, but they all also have at least 40 more horsepower and smoother, quieter engines.

Fuel Economy: 15/15

The Mirage follows the pre-hybrid-car playbook of energy efficiency. Smaller, lighter cars don’t need as much energy to move and since the Mirage (hatchback) is the smallest and lightest car on the market, fuel mileage is excellent. The EPA rates the Mirage hatch at 39 mpg combined (36 city, 43 highway) and the G4 at 37 mpg combined (35 city, 41 highway). In our real-world test, the Mirage ES hatchback beat its estimate, returning 42 mpg in combined driving.

Of course, modern hybrid and electric cars allow much larger and heavier vehicles to use even less energy, but you won’t find any hybrids or EVs near the Mirage’s price. (The cheapest hybrid, the Toyota Corolla LE, starts at $23,895.) The automatic-trans Versa will return up to 35 mpg combined and the Kia Rio 36, so they’re not far behind, but there aren’t any non-hybrids that can beat the Mirage’s miserly mileage.

Safety & Driver Assistance Tech: 7/15

The 2023 Mitsubishi Mirage gets a four-star overall rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and earns four stars of five in all of NHTSA’s tests. Results from testing by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) are also a mixed bag, with “Good” ratings in most areas but only a “Marginal” in the agency’s small front overlap test and an “Acceptable” rating for side impacts in the G4 Sedan (the hatchback gets a “Good” mark there). On the plus side, Mitsubishi fits seven airbags, including rear side curtains.

This is an ultra-low-cost car, and that means it just doesn’t have certain things. Among active-safety features, only forward automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection is standard. Automatic high beams and lane departure warnings are technically optional but included only on the top-trim SE. Even parking sensors are a $695 option. All of the Mirage’s competitors offer better safety features and more driver-assist gear.

Comfort & Room: 11/15

For its size and price, the Mirage is fairly comfortable, even in tiny hatchback form. On the outside, the Mirage hatchback is almost 2 feet shorter than the Nissan Versa, but it offers 34.2 inches of rear legroom to the Nissan’s tight 31. This still isn’t a huge back seat and tall people won’t love it, but the Mirage hatch also has more room in back than the Rio, the Nissan Kicks, the Toyota Corolla hatchback or the four-door Mini Hardtop.

It’s even better in the Mirage G4 sedan, with its 37.3 inches of rear legroom, which is as much as some much larger compact and midsize sedans. Both versions are technically five-seaters, but this car is narrow enough for the driver to be able to reach the passenger door handles. Even little kids won’t like riding in the middle rear seat. The door openings are big enough for loading and unloading from baby seats.

The Mirage’s seats are cloth on all models and the 1990s-style patterns on the higher trims are the only thing remotely “stylish” in its plasticky cabin. However, for literal cheap seats, they’re reasonably supportive and comfortable. The top-grade SE can even get heated front chairs.

Infotainment: 8/15

The Mirage features a standard 7-inch touchscreen display, but “infotainment” might be overstating what you get. As on the Ford Maverick and entry-level Honda Civic, this is a very basic system featuring some vehicle functions, Bluetooth and audio system controls. There’s a volume button and the system is satellite-radio compatible, but there’s not much else. 

A single USB port and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard. Mitsubishi correctly assumes that most drivers who want things like navigation will plug in their phones and use those mapping apps for that rather than paying extra for a native navigation system, so it doesn’t offer one. At the very least, the screen responds quickly to your inputs and all of the other controls are easy to use. 

Cargo Space & Storage: 12/15

As with passenger space, the little Mirage isn’t as tiny on the inside as you’d expect. Behind the Mirage hatchback’s rear seats are, Mitsubishi claims, 17.1 cubic-feet of cargo space. It’s a big hold for this tiny car, but that seems like it might be a measurement with the spare tire removed and every square inch of space up to the ceiling used. Fold the rear seats down and the hold expands to 47 cubic-feet, an amount on par with some small SUVs. 

In practice, the space behind the seats requires putting large suitcases in on their sides, but it’s still quite handy, and the space is huge with the seats folded. 

That compares to figures of 17.4 and 32.8 in the Kia Rio hatchback, 19.2 and 45.8 in the Hyundai Kona and 18.7 and 31.9 cubic-feet in the Hyundai Venue. The Mirage G4’s 12.7 cubic-foot trunk is less useful. The Versa’s size advantage translates to a Honda-Civic-sized 14.7 cubic-foot trunk while the Kia Rio sedan splits the difference at 13.7 cubic-feet. 

There’s nothing special about the Mirage’s small item storage space, and even the center console bin is tiny (and, surprisingly, optional on all but the SE), but most of the competition is about the same.

Style & Design: 4/10

Nobody buys this car for style, but Mitsubishi does at least make an effort with the exterior. The hatch is by far the better proportioned of the two body styles, and 2021’s restyling made the front end the most attractive it’s been in the decade that this car has been on sale. Mitsubishi also offers some bright colors, like Sand Yellow, Infrared and Sapphire Blue. We’d choose one of those, as bright colors make this car look more cheerful and less cheap. 

Those are the positives. The G4’s ungainly proportions and tiny wheels are the opposite of style, but at least you get a whole lot more backseat room in that version. The cabin is where cost-cutting is most obvious, however. Everything is hard, cheap plastic, and this is a dated, basic and strictly utilitarian cabin. If you put in some rubber floor mats (available from the dealer like many other accessories), you could probably clean almost any mess off these surfaces, but beautiful they ain’t.

Is the 2023 Mitsubishi Mirage Worth it? Which Mirage is the Best Value?

If you don’t want a manual transmission, the Mitsubishi Mirage is the cheapest way to saddle up with a brand-new car. With new car prices sky high and inventory still short, it’s worth it to somebody. The question is, is this enough car for you and what does the deal look like? 

Given that this car is slow, dated and all about cheap motoring, the least expensive one is the best value. The base ES hatchback ($17,450 including a $1,045 destination fee) has everything you need for basic motoring and undercuts the automatic Versa S ($18,595) and Kia Rio LX ($17,875) on price. Be aware though, those two cars come with more standard active safety features and nicer interiors. The base G4 ES Sedan starts at a steeper $18,450.

The mid-grade Mirage LE ($18,050 for the hatch, $19,050 for the G4) and Black Edition ($600 over the LE) add only cosmetic features, so if you want real upgrades you have to go to the top-trim SE ($19,350 for the hatch, $20,150 for the G4), which puts the Mirage in competition with the better-equipped, larger, and more modern Versa, Rio and Venue as well as bigger cars like the Kia Forte. 

If you shop patiently and carefully, the Mirage, Rio and Versa can sometimes be found below MSRP, even in the crazy car market of 2023, and the Mirage ES is invariably the cheapest one. There’s also the used car question. In the current market a low-mileage, five-year-old Honda Fit costs nearly as much as a new Mirage. For $17,000 you can find many older used vehicles that are nicer, but Certified Pre-Owned cars are scarce below that. 

Mitsubishi and Kia both offer identical and fantastic warranty coverage, five years or 60,000 miles of bumper-to-bumper and 10 years or 100,000 miles of powertrain coverage, much more than Nissan’s coverage. Some Mitsubishi dealers also sell lengthy extended warranties, but we’d be wary of piling on too many extras or financing a Mirage at sky-high interest rates or on ultra-long terms. It’s not an unreliable car but, current market conditions aside, resale value won’t be great. 

How Much Does it Cost to Insure the Mitsubishi Mirage?

The Mitsubishi Mirage’s insurance costs are surprisingly high. According to our data, a typical 30-year-old female driver with a clean record can expect an average annual premium of $2,440 for a base Mirage ES and as much as $2,766 for a top Mirage G4 LE sedan, though these costs average all 50 states. That compares to $2,030 for a Nissan Versa, $2,128 for a Kia Rio and $1,727 for a Hyundai Venue. To get a more accurate picture of your potential insurance expenses, visit our car insurance calculator.